Donna's back in town!

Donna and I have known each other since about 1979. She is one of my dearest friends, if not THE dearest. She lives in San Luis Obispo, California, and was back in Michigan for two weeks on vacation. We were lucky that she could take time out of her busy schedule to visit with us. Richard told me that he loves when Donna visits because I'm so happy. "You guys giggle a lot when she's here and you don't even need alcohol to do that!" I told him that's a sign of a good, true friend.

While she was here we went to see a performance of "Gypsy" starring another really good friend of mine, Rose Randall Warner after having dinner with the family (minus Chelsea :-(( ). Here are some pictures before dinner. Chelsea WAS able to join us before dinner and it just happened to be her birthday.
Above picture, from left: Donna, Chelsea, Sarah, Hannah, Courtney, and moi!!
On Sunday evening we fired up the brick oven for home-made pizza. Yum! Here's Jonah putting together his creation and firing it, minus any hint of a 'wiggle.'

And Donna concocting something vegan.Donna was a good sport and agreed to learn a new game, Settlers of Catan.

My beautiful orchid as it charms us on my dining room table. It has an incredible amount of blooms.

The cuteness next door

There are two little girls that live next door to me that I have adopted as my 'psuedo' granddaughters. They are so incredibly cute and smart and precious. Jordan is 7 years old and Sydney is 3. I love the fact that they feel they can come-and-go as they please at my house and when the weather is nice their parents often find them 'over at Karen's house' when they thought the girls were in their own front yard. Here are a couple of pictures of Sydney taken on Saturday, May 22nd. One of the first things Sydney said was "Karen, I'm hungry." in a some-what shy voice. "Well, what do you feel like eating?" I asked her. "A peanut butter and banana sandwich!" "Okay! I'm glad I have those fixings!"

The Eye of the Amaryllis

That's actually the name of a great children's book by Natalie Babbitt. I will soon learn up close and personal what the eye looks like. Check out this plant that I'm growing in a pot in my house. I took my mother to Odd Lots, something she likes to do about once month with me for whatever reason. We meander through the isles searching for bargains. Last time we were there I found a couple different varieties of bulbed plants and me being the sucker for plants that I am, I bought both. They came as a kit with the plastic pot, potting material in compact disk form, and the bulbs. One pot came with one amaryllis bulb and the other with three narcissus bulbs.

The amaryllis has surprised me as to the height it has grown. And now it has started to open. I can't wait to see its full beauty. Here are a couple pictures and an extra one of my cat.

The funny thing cats do

Check out this silly video of Hannah's cat, Pebbles, chasing a laser spot light. I like when she takes the time to lick herself. This is her way of saying, "Hmmmph! I know they are messing with me but I DO have my pride!"

There's a chill in the air!

The temperature dipped a bit lower than I prefer yesterday evening so we did what any cozy-minded person would do...started the first fire of the season. And everything goes better with a glass of wine!

I know a few people who like this time of year and I don't mind it either except that it reminds me that cold winter days are on the horizon.

I'm counting down: Six more years! That's when California is on the calendar. They have GREAT wine there!

Spring is in the air

It's taken a while here in Michigan for the feeling of spring to sink in. We've had one of the chilliest springs I can remember. It was a warm and wonderful Memorial Day reaching close to 80 degrees but tomorrow's weather is going to be a let-down, maybe reaching 60 degrees.

A pair of cardinals has nested in a bush that we have alongside the east side of our house, about 6 feet from our constantly opening and closing back door. I was able to open the bush to let enough light in to take a couple pictures of the nest. In this one you can see a baby head and beak sticking up on the right side of the nest.This is the best shot I could get of the newborns.
The brilliant-colored daddy likes to hang out on our porch, around to the south-facing front of the house. I think he hangs out there to try to intimidate us with his sharp chirp. He gets pretty close to the house, usually landing on one of the chairs we have out there. Here he is on the back of the chair.

I think on this particular day he could see our cat through the window and he was chirping a warning to her. He gets pretty bold here hopping on down to the ottoman of the chair, chirping at the window.

Here is one of our cats, Pebbles, wishing she could have a break from dry cat food. She was making these funny, hopeful sounds as she sat watching the show Mr. Red was putting on.